


Centre

by AsheTarasovich (natalieashe), Boffin1710



Series: Moments of Life in the Shadows [33]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Emotions, Established Relationship, Family Feels, Fluff and Mush, M/M, Words We Don't Say
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-02 06:18:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11503503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natalieashe/pseuds/AsheTarasovich, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boffin1710/pseuds/Boffin1710
Summary: Q is very guarded with his feelings.  If he expresses them openly, it gives Alec cause for concern.





	Centre

**Q…**

It has been a long week. A long couple of weeks with frustration, chaos, and lose. It is late at night and I am still at my desk trying to wade through paperwork that seems to have taken on a life of it’s own and it threatening to eat me alive.

I pull up an email contact group that is normally used for trying to arrange pub outings or whose turn it is to host dinner at theirs. Sometimes there are a few other extra names added in the CC, but not today. However, there a couple of names in the original group that are long since deceased but no one yet has had the heart to delete their names.

I stare at the blank email in front of me for a tad as I gather my thoughts before I begin to type…

The world changes around us much quicker than we can register at times... people, boundaries, technologies, social norms. Countries and governments come and go in the blink of an eye.

So do the people who are prominent in our lives.

It seems anymore that a person must constantly assess those connections, relationships... loves. Who are your "acquaintances" and who are your "family".

Family are those who "care" for you... "love you" no matter who you are day in and day out... from being one to cuddle with to the unbearable wanker.

My blood family is few and far between, almost nonexistent... this surrogate family. That family which I consider mine, I can count them on hand.

When all of this around me threatens to consume me, one of them is always there to pull me back from the abyss.

I am a man of few outward mushy words.

You know who you are...

And I am ever so grateful…

Also…. make a special note that this is probably a once in a lifetime email of soft mushy words from me so don’t expect it on a regular basis.

 

**Alec...**

I take a sip from my coffee mug and lean back in the chair. The sigh escapes me before I can catch it. Not a sigh of contentment, more an exhalation of concern. Reading through the email again I know that I'm not the only one who will read more into Q's words. Words I know he finds too hard to say. Words we don't say for fear of tempting shadows.

The fact he is feeling the need to express those things to us, his chosen family, tells me he's walking that fine line so close to the edge...

He is correct in everything he says, but it took a long time for him to realise that this small circle is not just a stockade around his feelings, both physical and emotional, but an honest to god family, regardless of blood. Blood can be spilled. This circle is continuous, solid, unbreakable.

Sure, we're a bit dented, scraped, a bit misshapen, but every knock that tests our strength ends up proving our loyalty to him, and each other.

I glance over at him curled on the sofa, the throw pulled up to his chin and his head resting on my balled up hoodie as a pillow. He spent 20 minutes swearing to me he wasn't tired before sleep dragged him down. I covered him up and left him huffing out snores deeply and regularly. He'll stay there till morning unless I carry him to bed. Closing the laptop I set it down silently on the coffee table and just look...

This man is the centre of our world. I'm sure he would scoff at that, but he keeps all of us together, diverse as we are.

Dark lashes fanned over pale skin. Tufts of tangled hair poked between his slender fingers where they were shoved under his head. Purple shadows smudge under his eyes from the exhaustion he claims not to feel. He's such an independent little shite, always got his guard up with those outside. But within this family of ours, he gives so much back to each and every one.

He doesn't have to say it. Doesn't need to put it into an email. It shows in every thought and word and deed.


End file.
